Grand Opening Celebrations

Grand Opening Celebrations

Saturday, January 23rd featured our day of Grand Opening Celebrations and what a blast we had!
Officially, things kicked off at 1pm with live music by Stephen Leblanc until 4pm. Much praise has been received for Stephen’s performance and hopefully we will be able to welcome him back to the Mountain before the season is complete.

From there we vacated the Bar & Grill to enter set-up mode. This was a very educational experience as we were able to see what the area looks like aesthetically for events such as Annual General Meetings, Reunions, Weddings, etc… We re-opened the B & G doors at 5pm with Happy Hour and a pork roast buffet dinner. The food was amazing, with roasted red potatoes, apple sauce, roasted winter root veggies, tomato salad, orzo pasta, authentic dressing, all served with an herb cream sauce. Everything was delicious – and I know because I tried everything and nearly licked the plate upon completion. Thank you to the Moffett and MacLean families, Julie our Food & Beverage Manager, Chef Mathias and staff.

Gary Morris and Crossroads provided a belly-reprieve between dinner and dessert with their comical song-writing abilities, in addition to a special appearance by the one and only Unis! If you missed this portion of the evening you definitely missed a good stomach work-out with laughter. For dessert, we provided your choice of strawberry layer cake or lemon crème layer cake, served with tea or coffee.

As with many a Grand Opening, we heard wonderful thank you’s from Stephen Moffett, Arthur Lee White and Bill Anderson himself, along with official congratulations from Alaina Lockhart (Fundy Royal MP) and Stephen Horsman (Deputy Premier). Following the formal part of the evening, Crossroads transitioned the evening into the dance portion to complete the night of celebrations.

To commemorate the evening, it was decided to dust off and rejuvenate the Torch Parade. Thanks to Stan Sample for organizing, Mike Letourneau of Canadian Tire for arranging for us to have the flares in time, and to all those who braved the darkness, the elements, the flare drippings and the synchronicity of it all – we thank you!

And while I am thanking people, I would also like to extend a big thank you to our snow makers. Considering the weather predicament as of late, without these people and the investment Poley Mountain continues to make into our snow making coverage and abilities, there would be very limited skiing, if at all. When conditions permit, snow making is a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week cycle with 2 crews both working 12 hour shifts. Working outside 95% of their day/night, riding up, down and all around the mountain to set up hoses and equipment, this is a very thankless job. Therefore, I would like to conclude this week by saying “thank you snow makers – we’d be green without you.”

One final note to end on – We are having a Valentine’s Dinner & Dance, Saturday February 13th. Check for our ad in the KCR this week for menu options – music to be performed by the Instigators. When in doubt, check poleymountain.com, or find us on Facebook at Poley Mountain Official.